1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a data processing equipment and, more particularly, to a data processing equipment, such as a personal computer, provided with a detachable pointing device used for instructing the processing equipment on the coordinate data on a display by manually entering analog information. The present invention also relates to a detachable pointing device provided with a radio transmission mechanism for digital coordinate data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital data processing equipment, such as a personal computer or a word processor, provided with a display, a keyboard and a pointing device as a coordinate data input device is well known in the art. The pointing device is adapted to be manually operated by an operator for entering analog information to instruct the processing equipment on the coordinate data on the display. Particularly, in a small or notebook-size, portable data processing equipment, a built-in type pointing device which is integrally incorporated in a housing of the processing equipment, or a separate type pointing device, generally referred to as a mouse, which is connected to the housing through a cable, is normally used.
Conventionally, the built-in type pointing devices integrally incorporated in the equipment housing are divided into the following three types, the typical entering operations of which are different from each other. One type is a ball-operation pointing device wherein a ball is incorporated in the housing on the top face thereof and an operator rotates the ball by a finger to enter the direction and angle of the rotation of the ball. Another type is a sheet-operation pointing device wherein a sheet or pad is incorporated in the housing on the top face thereof and an operator touches and slides a finger on the sheet to enter the direction and distance of the sliding operation of the finger. A further type is a stick-operation pointing device wherein a stick is incorporated in the housing to project upward from the top face thereof and an operator laterally pushes the stick to enter the direction and magnitude of the pushing force of the finger.
These built-in type pointing devices advantageously do not deteriorate the portability of the notebook-size data processing equipment, but have a problem in that the operability thereof is somewhat inferior to that of the mouse because the entering operations are required to be carried out in a limited area. On the other hand, the separate type pointing device or mouse which is used in a connected state with the equipment housing may deteriorate the portability of the notebook-size data processing equipment. To solve these drawbacks, a detachable pointing device is provided, which is detachably mounted to the housing of the notebook-size data processing equipment, as disclosed, e.g., in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-244805.
In a computer with built-in mouse, disclosed in JP-A-9-244805, the mouse is detachably accommodated in a receptacle space provided near a keyboard in such a condition that the bottom face of the mouse is upturned.
When the mouse is accommodated in the receptacle space, the operator directly can operate to rotate a ball provided on the bottom face of the mouse and exposed on the top surface of a keyboard by a finger, in the same manner as the built-in type ball-operation pointing device. When the mouse is detached from the receptacle space, the operator can operate the mouse in the same manner as the normal separate mouse. The detachable mouse is connected to a computer body through a cable.
In the computer with built-in mouse, disclosed in JP-A-9-244805, since the mouse is accommodated in the computer body in an upside-down condition as mentioned above, the operators finger shifting direction for ball-operation on a mouse attached state is different or reversed from the operator""s hand shifting direction for ball-operation on a mouse detached state, when the same coordinate data on a display should be instructed, and thereby, it is difficult to smoothly operate the mouse to correctly instruct on the coordinate data. Therefore, this computer is provided with a matching circuit and a switch to avoid such a signal reversing phenomenon. Also, click buttons for supplying a signal of an operation command to displayed information are provided on both the top and bottom surfaces of the mouse. Further, a cable winding mechanism is provided for handling a cable for connecting the mouse to the computer body, when the mouse is accommodated. Consequently, the conventional computer with built-in mouse has problems in that the structures of the mouse and the computer as well as the control systems thereof are complicated, which increases the production cost.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a data processing equipment, with a detachable pointing device, which can effectively solve the above problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data processing equipment with a detachable pointing device in which the detachable pointing device can be easily and smoothly operated by an operator and thus the coordinate data can be correctly entered and instructed, both when the pointing device is attached to an equipment housing and when it is detached therefrom.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a data processing equipment with a detachable pointing device, which can simplify the structures and control systems of both the processing equipment and the pointing device.
It is yet further object of the present invention to provide a detachable pointing device, for use in a data processing equipment, which can eliminate a troublesome cable handling.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a data processing equipment comprising a housing for a keyboard and a display and a pointing device detachably mounted in the housing for instructing the processing equipment on coordinate data by manually entering analog information; the pointing device including a light emitting section for emitting light signals representing the coordinate data; the housing including a first light receiving section for receiving the light signals emitted from the light emitting section when the pointing device is attached to the housing for operation, and a second light receiving section for receiving the light signals emitted from the light emitting section when the pointing device is detached from the housing for operation.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the data processing equipment further comprises an optical transmission line for transmitting the light signals received in one of the first and second light receiving sections to the other light receiving section.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the data processing equipment further comprises a guide member for guiding the pointing device to a proper position in the housing.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data processing equipment further comprises a fastening mechanism for fastening the pointing device to a proper position in the housing.
It is advantageous that the pointing device includes an analog information entering section which can be operated in two or more modes for different entering operations.
In this arrangement, the analog information entering section may include a sheet-operation entering section in which the shifting direction and distance of a pushed position on a sheet member are entered and a ball-operation entering section in which the rotational direction and angle of a ball are entered.
The sheet member may be arranged in a casing of the pointing device to be exposed on a first wall of the casing, and the ball may be arranged in the casing to be partially exposed on a second wall of the casing opposed to the first wall.
In this arrangement, the data processing equipment may further comprise a switching mechanism for switching functions of the analog information entering section so as to give the sheet-operation entering section priority in function when the pointing device is attached to the housing, and to give the ball-operation entering section priority in function when the pointing device is detached from the housing.
Alternatively, the analog information entering section may include a ball-operation entering section in which the rotational direction and angle of the ball are entered, the ball being arranged in a casing of the pointing device to be partially exposed on two opposed walls of the casing.
Further, the pointing device may include a processing section for converting analog information entered through the analog information entering section into digital coordinate data.
The present invention also provides a pointing device comprising a casing detachably mounted in a data processing equipment; an analog information entering section arranged in the casing and capable of being operated in two or more modes for different entering operations; a processing section arranged in the casing in association with the analog information entering section to convert analog information into digital coordinate data; and a light emitting section arranged in the casing in association with the processing section to emit light signals representing the digital coordinate data.
In the preferred aspect of the present invention, the analog information entering section includes a sheet-operation entering section in which the shifting direction and distance of a pushed position on a sheet member are entered, and a ball-operation entering section in which the rotational direction and angle of a ball are entered.
In this arrangement, the sheet member may be arranged in the casing to be exposed on a first wall of the casing, and the ball may be arranged in the casing to be partially exposed on a second wall of the casing opposed to the first wall.
The pointing device may further comprise a switching mechanism for switching functions of the analog information entering section so as to give the sheet-operation entering section priority in function when the casing is attached to the data processing equipment, and to give the ball-operation entering section priority in function when the casing is detached from the data processing equipment.
Alternatively, the analog information entering section may include a ball-operation entering section in which the rotational direction and angle of the ball are entered, the ball being arranged in the casing to be partially exposed on two opposed walls of the casing.